Quoted : Book Expo America 2012

Here’s a link to a Cleveland Plain Dealer article I was quoted in over a week ago. The article summarizes book editor, Karen Long’s, response to her experience at Book Expo America. Karen happened to be eavesdropping on my random conversation with a grade school parent I ran into at the airport on the way home. I’m so glad Karen introduced herself! I mean, when will I ever again be quoted in the same article as Richard Russo and Stephen Colbert?

I encourage you to read the article and note my optimism. It’s sincere and well documented even during these summer months of 2012. The editors I spoke with at the Expo and a full day of client visits in the city, tell me they are LOOKING for manuscripts (picture books and leveled readers in particular). Good ones. And those manuscripts will need illustrators if they aren’t written and illustrated by the same talent. Strong, smart, creative character sells. Original, inspired art sells. Good writing sells. Good books sell. But these things don’t appear out of nowhere. Like a successful garden they are cultivated and nurtured, planted and pruned, and sometimes they take years to bear good fruit. Don’t let this last part stop you. Sit down and get to work.